Our story

We are celebrating five years of Medical Spanish for Audiologists! It has been a privilege to bring our curriculum to audiologists and audiology students across the country. A special thank you to our colleagues at San Diego State University, Rush University, and the University of Colorado Boulder for partnering with us to expand access to Medical Spanish education for AuD students. We are incredibly grateful for the enthusiasm, support, and feedback we have received over the past five years. We look forward to continuing to grow our reach and helping more audiologists develop the Spanish-language skills needed to better serve their patients.

  • Our initial Medical Spanish for Audiologists curriculum was approved for 1.6 AAA CEUs and delivered to four cohorts. These early courses provided valuable insights into the strategies and features that were most effective in improving audiologists’ ability to communicate with patients in Spanish.

  • Course evaluations from audiologists and audiology students show that 100% of participants would recommend Medical Spanish for Audiologists to a colleague!

  • Our hybrid model combines pre-recorded webinars with live virtual sessions, giving participants the foundational knowledge they need along with opportunities to put their skills into practice.

  • Practice with Spanish-speaking standardized patients is the highest-rated component of our curriculum, providing participants with a safe, supportive environment to practice their Spanish while developing practical language, cultural, and communication skills they can apply with their patients.

Medical Spanish for Audiologists - Curriculum for AuD Programs

For questions, please email Dr. Ullauri at [email protected]

  • Bilingual Students

    The Medical Spanish for Audiologists curriculum is most beneficial to students who speak Spanish at a high-intermediate or advanced level and have completed the first two years of an AuD program.

  • Elective Course

    The Medical Spanish for Audiologists curriculum is an elective course that helps students expand their Spanish language skills to a level that is appropriate for clinical practice. The curriculum can be adjusted to a semester or quarter system according to the program.

  • Virtual Platform

    The Medical Spanish Course was built to be accessible to participants across the country. The curriculum has pre-recorded webinars, live-practice sessions with standardized patients, and two selected textbooks that enhance the student's learning experience.

How is the curriculum for AuD programs different from the on-demand courses?

The curriculum for AuD programs includes live practice sessions with standardized patients (SPs). SPs are educators trained to portray patients or family members, providing course participants with opportunities to practice essential clinical communication skills in Spanish, including obtaining a clinical history, providing test instructions, reviewing results and recommendations, and responding to patient and family questions. Feedback is a critical component of our simulated audiology appointments. Both the webinars and live virtual sessions with SPs help prepare participants for their final tele-audiology encounter. This encounter is recorded and evaluated using the Physician Oral Language Observation Matrix (POLOM), a standardized tool for assessing oral language proficiency in clinical settings. The POLOM allows us to provide participants with detailed, individualized formative feedback on their Spanish-language clinical communication skills upon completion of the course.
To learn more about the POLOM

Standardized Patients

Mariana Barquet

Mariana was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. She is the mother of two children; her youngest was born with profound hearing loss. She serves as the Guide By Your Side Program Coordinator and the Advocacy, Support and Training (ASTra) Program Coordinator in Indiana. Her biggest passion is to ensure that every child with hearing loss has access to and receives qualified services to meet their needs and reach their maximum potential. Mariana has extensive experience supporting families attending audiology, medical, and early intervention appointments, as well as navigating the healthcare system. We have had the privilege to work with Mariana since the start of our courses! She brings to our simulated audiology encounters real life questions, concerns, and doubts that many families experience when navigating their child's hearing journey! Mariana is exceptional at providing students with relevant and immediate feedback from a patient's perspective after each interaction.

Blanca Salazar

Blanca was born and raised in Mexico City and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, seven years ago. She is the proud mother of a beautiful daughter who has moderate-to-severe hearing loss due to a genetic condition. Drawing from her own experiences, Blanca is grateful for the opportunity to support Hispanic families as a Parent Guide with IN Hands & Voices. Blanca understands the profound difference language and compassionate communication can make in healthcare. When someone arrives at a medical appointment feeling afraid—not only because of a diagnosis, but also because of a language barrier—finding someone who speaks their native language can immediately ease much of that fear. Through her extensive experience supporting families during multispecialty medical appointments, Blanca has developed a deep understanding of the importance of delivering information clearly, compassionately, and with empathy. She excels at providing students with practical guidance on communicating with patients and families, particularly when sharing difficult news. We are extremely grateful for Blanca’s dedication to helping students strengthen their overall communication with patients and families. From Blanca to our students "on behalf of the Hispanic community, thank you for choosing to learn audiology in Spanish!"

Medical Spanish for Audiologists

Doctors of Audiology Programs

University of Colorado Boulder

Summer 2025

During the Summer of 2025, the Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (SLHS) department, through their Spanish Audiology Language Initiative, offered bilingual AuD students and local audiologists the opportunity to participate our Medical Spanish for Audiologists 8-weeks curriculum! Pre- and post-program questionnaire results demonstrated increased participant confidence communicating with and understanding Spanish-speaking patients. Qualitative data highlighted participants feeling empowered to deliver more equitable, language-concordant care. Qualitative feedback identified the live virtual sessions with standardized Spanish-speaking patients as a particularly impactful component of the program. The results of this program were presented during the poster session at the American Academy of Audiology Conference in San Antonio, Texas in April 2026. Funding: This project was supported by a University of Colorado Boulder Impact Grant, a program designed to support the academic, professional and social success of CU Boulder students and employees.

Rush University

Spring 2026

During the Spring of 2026 semester, the Department of Communication Science and Disorders offered its AuD students, who are interested in furthering their ability to provide direct audiologic services in Spanish, participation in the Audiology En Español - Medical Spanish 8-weeks curriculum facilitated by Dr. Alejandra Ullauri. Final report coming soon! Always a joy to work with Rush University and their student body! Funding: Grant

Academic presence

We are honored to present and spread the word about the benefits of language-concordant care in different academic forums. This is only a short list of the work we have shared across in-person and online meetings. We are grateful to our colleagues who have invited us to participate in some of these forums.

  • American Academy of Audiology Annual Conference - Bringing Language-Concordant Care to Audiology: An Educational Initiative for Bilingual Spanish-speaking Audiologists and Students - Dr. Lauren Pontis & Dr. Alejandra Ullauri -San Antonio, TX - April 2026

  • National Center for Rehabilitative Audiology Research -Organizational Health Literacy in Hearing Healthcare: Breaking Language Barriers - Online - October 2025

  • ASHA Professional Development Webinar - Language Access in Hearing Care: From Theory to Practice - September 2025

  • ASHA Convention - Building Capacity: Helping Audiologists Meet the Needs of the Spanish Speaking Population - Boston, MA - November 2023

  • International Fall Cochlear Implant Meeting - Vanderbilt University - How Health Literate Organizations Can Help Patients Access Services - Santa Rosa, FL - October 2023

  • Colorado Academy of Audiology Fall Conference - Providing audiology services to Spanish speaking patients - Colorado Springs, CO - October 2023

  • University of Arizona - Multicultural Conference - Clinical considerations when providing audiology services to Spanish speaking patients - Tucson, AZ - September 2023

  • National Association of Medical Spanish Summit - Transferring Medical Spanish Curriculums to Other Healthcare Specialties - November 2022

  • Audiology Online - Lost in Translation: Ensuring Non-English Speakers Receive Accurate Health Information - August 2022

  • American Academy of Audiology Annual Conference - Language Concordance in the Clinical Encounter - St. Louis, MO - March 2022